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Push To Decriminalize Drugs In Washington State Survives Early Challenge

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Push To Decriminalize Drugs In Washington State Survives Early Challenge


Advocates behind a ballot-box push to decriminalize medication and broaden remedy and restoration providers in Washington State have survived a courtroom problem to the second iteration of their voter initiative deliberate for November.

The revised proposal, Initiative 1922, is sort of an identical to the group’s decriminalization poll measure filed earlier this yr, I-1870, however contains updates to mirror the legislature’s passage of two new state legal guidelines. One regulation replaces references to “marijuana” in state code with the time period “hashish,” whereas the opposite expands the state’s hashish social fairness program.

The group behind the decriminalization effort, Decide to Change WA, introduced in an e mail to supporters final week that Decide Allyson Zipp, of the Thurston County Superior Courtroom, had on Thursday rejected a problem to I-1922’s poll title permitted in March by the workplace of Lawyer Basic Bob Ferguson (D). Zipp was appointed to the bench by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) final yr after serving within the AG’s workplace since 2014.

“We’re excited to announce that this morning, the problem was denied and Decide Zipp dominated in favor of our marketing campaign!” proponents mentioned within the e mail. “Here’s what Washington State voters will see on their ballots this fall once we submit a qualifying variety of signatures in July:”

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The poll title of I-1922 is similar as that of the sooner proposal and reads as follows:

Initiative Measure No. 1922 considerations drug use remedy and penalties, and associated funding.

This measure would fund substance use dysfunction prevention, outreach, restoration, coaching, research, and public training; decriminalize drug possession however permit seizure and forfeiture; authorize trip of sure drug-related convictions; and amend associated legal guidelines.

Ought to this measure be enacted into regulation?

Decide to Change WA, an ACLU-sponsored coalition of dozens of people and native teams previously organized beneath the title Therapy First WA, has been working for years to alter Washington’s method to drug use issues, trying to maneuver away from criminalizing drug use and as a substitute deal with hurt discount and remedy.

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Most People assist eliminating felony penalties for medication, surveys recommend. A ballot launched final week by the progressive teams Information for Progress and the Folks’s Motion Institute, for instance, discovered {that a} robust majority of voters, together with most Republicans, favor decriminalization.

Seven in ten People mentioned that they’re in favor of ending the criminalization of low-level drug possession and changing the specter of prosecution with alternative of paying a fantastic or being screened for remedy, the survey discovered, in comparison with 25 % who oppose the reform.

Washington voters are typically supportive of decriminalization, in keeping with a statewide ballot final yr commissioned by reform advocates. Practically three in 4 voters (73 %) mentioned the state’s method to problematic drug use has been a failure. Simply 9 % known as it successful.

If I-1922 makes it to the poll and a majority of voters approve, it could eradicate the state’s current penalties round possession and use of all medication. Authorities may nonetheless seize unlawful substances, however regulation enforcement would then need to refer people to outreach providers, the place folks may entry remedy and be linked with different assist applications.

The proposal would additionally expunge previous convictions for drug possession and use, eradicating blemishes from felony data that may forestall folks from discovering jobs, securing housing and going to highschool.

Tens of millions of {dollars} in state funds, together with a significant portion of hashish tax income, would additionally go to broaden outreach, remedy and long-term restoration providers to assist folks with substance use dysfunction.

Proponents have labored for years to attract consideration to what they are saying is a necessity for the state to step up outreach and long-term restoration providers to deal with folks with substance use issues. Whereas Washington funds remedy providers higher than many different states, they are saying, outreach and long-term restoration are missing, which means many individuals who need assistance are unaware of accessible assets or can’t discover sustained assist after leaving remedy applications.

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In 2020, voters in neighboring Oregon handed the same poll measure to decriminalize medication and fund entry to remedy and hurt discount providers.

Opponents of the potential Washington state initiative missed their window to problem the poll title of the primary model of the measure, I-1870, which Decide to Change’s board chair, Peter Danelo, filed with the state in mid-January. When the group submitted a second model of the would-be initiative virtually two months later, nonetheless, one critic jumped on the chance.

Although Decide to Change’s e mail to supporters final week didn’t determine the get together who challenged the poll title, it described the individual as “somebody with an in depth historical past of [Washington State Public Disclosure Commission] complaints and litigation in opposition to progressive organizations and causes.”

The challenger seems to be Glen Morgan, a conservative activist who has spent years submitting state complaints predominantly in opposition to Democratic and different left-leaning causes. On April 8, Morgan posted a video to YouTube titled, “Why I’m difficult Washington AG Bob Ferguson’s ACLU arduous drug legalization poll measure.”

Within the video, Morgan mentioned he was difficult the title as a result of he felt it was the results of a corrupt course of through which Ferguson “put his thumb on the dimensions” in favor of the ACLU, which Morgan says within the video “used to care about civil rights” and is now “simply centered on esoteric, left-wing causes, and a kind of causes, apparently, is that this initiative, 1922.“

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Morgan says within the video that I-1922’s poll title seems like “butterflies and sunshine,“ and he claims to assist broader entry to remedy for folks with drug use issues, saying that he believes “a very powerful factor you are able to do is get them off that substance which is destroying their lives.“ However he implies that police want to have the ability to arrest and cost folks criminally to incentivize drug customers to enter remedy, pointing to what he describes as an “uncontrolled“ drug state of affairs in Seattle.

Morgan as a substitute proposes that the poll title say the would-be initiative considerations “legalizing extremely addictive narcotics, liberating convicted criminals, and struggling the results,“ opining that it’s “a fairly efficient description, I believe, of what Seattle’s turn into.“ His different description for the initiative would additionally determine by title 9 particular medication that might be decriminalized, although the reform itself would apply to all medication.

Morgan claims repeatedly within the video that I-1922 would “legalize“ medication, which is on the very least deceptive. Whereas the possession of medicine wouldn’t be topic to felony penalties, regulation enforcement may seize any illicit medication they encounter, and drug gross sales and trafficking would stay unlawful. Slightly than cost folks caught with medication, regulation enforcement would refer them to remedy and different assist providers.

A separate potential poll measure filed in Washington, which Morgan doesn’t talk about in his video, goals to legalize psilocybin, the principle lively part of psychedelic mushrooms, to be used by adults 21 and over in settings with skilled facilitators. That proposal, Initiative 1886, is backed by a special group, the political motion committee ADAPT-WA, and is much like a invoice launched within the legislature earlier this yr. To this point, nonetheless, the psilocybin initiative effort has raised far much less monetary assist than the decrim proposal—about $10,000 in marketing campaign funds, in keeping with state data, in comparison with greater than $1 million raised by Decide to Change.

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With the problem out of the best way, Decide to Change WA expressed confidence it might collect the required 324,516 legitimate voter signatures by the state deadline of July 8 to qualify I-1922 for November’s poll. The group has posted job listings for workers at six workplaces throughout the state, promoting wages of $21-$23 per hour. A web-based kickoff session for volunteer signature gatherers is scheduled for Wednesday night.

The group has additionally just lately stepped up promoting on social media, operating brief clips of video testimonials from numerous supporters, together with King County Prosecuting Lawyer Dan Satterberg (D); Keith Blocker (D), a Tacoma metropolis council member and former deputy mayor; well being professionals; non secular leaders and group members.

Decide to Change has tried repeatedly lately to shift Washington’s method to drug use from a crime-control paradigm to a public-health mannequin. In 2020, when it was referred to as Therapy First WA, the group tried to qualify a separate decriminalization and remedy measure for that yr’s state poll. However the outbreak of COVID-19 interrupted the signature gathering effort and organizers shifted their focus to the legislature.

After months of delay, state lawmakers final session launched Home Invoice 1499, which included most of the group’s strategies. However the invoice did not advance out of committee earlier than a legislative deadline.

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Shortly thereafter, the state Supreme Courtroom overturned Washington’s felony regulation in opposition to drug possession utterly, sending lawmakers scrambling to interchange the regulation with little time left within the legislative session. Finally they permitted a modest reform, lowering the state’s felony cost for drug possession to a misdemeanor and earmarking more cash for remedy. However the regulation’s felony penalties will expire in 2023, an effort to encourage lawmakers to revisit the coverage.

The regulation, which took impact final Might, was broadly seen by advocates as a half-step towards significant reform. Many known as on lawmakers to additional put money into outreach and restoration and urged additional dismantling of the felony drug warfare.

Washington State lawmakers additionally briefly thought of a invoice this session that might have legalized what the laws known as “supported psilocybin experiences” for adults 21 and older. That proposal, nonetheless, did not go out of committee by a deadline earlier this month.

On the native degree, Seattle just lately grew to become the biggest U.S. metropolis to decriminalize psychedelics following a Metropolis Council decision in October.

Biden Lastly Grants Aid To Folks With Federal Marijuana And Drug Convictions After Extra Than A 12 months In Workplace

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Washington Post Editorial Cartoonist Says She Quit After Brass Rejected Her Donald Trump Sketch

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Washington Post Editorial Cartoonist Says She Quit After Brass Rejected Her Donald Trump Sketch


It appears that another high-profile member of The Washington Post‘s editorial staff has left the paper: Cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who’s been at the outlet for 16 years, announced via Substack Friday that she was quitting after the brass killed her latest illustration featuring president-elect Donald Trump.

“The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump,” the Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist wrote on Substack under the title “Why I Quit The Washington Post.”

“There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago,” she wrote. “The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.”

Telnaes wrote that she first joined the Post in 2008 as an editorial cartoonist and has had “editorial feedback and productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now.”

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“While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon,” she continued. “To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a game changer…and dangerous for a free press.”

She included a “rough of the cartoon killed” in her Substack column. You can read her full column here.

Telnaes is the latest journo to depart the Bezos-owned newspaper. Before the election, three Post journalists stepped down from the editorial board in protest over the publication’s controversial decision not to endorse a presidential candidate, with concerns that it was a way for Bezos to placate Trump. More than 200,000 readers also canceled their digital subscriptions.

Several more staffers have since departed, including managing editor Matea Gold, who’s set to become second-highest ranking leader of the New York Times Washington bureau.

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At the New York Times DealBook Summit in NYC last month, Bezos said he may not be the best owner for the paper from the perspective of “the appearance” of conflict of interest, but defended the decision not to support a candidate in the Post’s editorial pages.

“The pluses of doing this were very small and [endorsements] added to the perceptions of bias if news media are going to try to be objective and independent,” Bezos said, adding that media “is suffering from a crisis of trust.”

It should behave like a “voting machine. They have to count the votes accurately and people have to believe that they count the votes accurately.”

“Not all of it is the media’s fault,” he continued. “But where we can do something we should … We made this decision. I am proud of this decision.”

Bezos then went on to acknowledge that “I am a terrible owner for the Post from the point of view of the appearance of conflict … Probably not a single day goes by where some Amazon executive or Blue Origin executive or some Bezos Earth Fund leader isn’t meeting with a government official somewhere. And so there are always going to be appearances of conflict.”

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Cowboys-Commanders expert predictions: Will Dallas claim season sweep vs. Washington?

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Cowboys-Commanders expert predictions: Will Dallas claim season sweep vs. Washington?


The Dallas Cowboys (7-9) close out the season on Sunday against the Washington Commanders (11-5), who are headed to the playoffs under first-year coach Dan Quinn.

Washington is on a four-game winning streak since losing to Dallas as a double-digit favorite at home just before Thanksgiving.

Will the Cowboys claim the season sweep? The Dallas Morning News columnists and beat writers make their predictions:

Tim Cowlishaw

Cowboys

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The Commanders went from last in the NFC East to first for much of the season before settling behind Philly and clinching a wild card spot last Sunday. With Jayden Daniels as the obvious Rookie of the Year at QB, this is a team on the rise. The Cowboys might spring Trey Lance on us for a while Sunday, which could be a fun show if a bit of a roller coaster. Dallas will be trying to win because it has too many coaches and players hoping to save jobs, but a sweep of Washington doesn’t seem like a fitting ending to this lost season.

Commanders 27, Cowboys 19

Damon Marx

The Cowboys’ playoff hopes were realistically extinguished when QB Dak Prescott was injured in Week 9. We’ve been playing out the string and waiting to hear about coach Mike McCarthy’s fate ever since. That decision will come soon enough, but for now there is one more game against the Commanders, who still have postseason goals within reach. About the only intrigue for the Cowboys will be whether backup QB Trey Lance makes an appearance.

Commanders 27, Cowboys 17

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David Moore

An argument can be made that the Cowboys would be better off losing this game since they won’t make the playoffs. It will improve their draft position. Washington, meanwhile, has the potential to improve its playoff seed with a win. Motivation is clearly on the Commanders’ side. But when has logic ever applied in this rivalry?

Cowboys 24, Commanders 21

Abraham Nudelstejer

The best thing that could happen in this game is the Commanders let quarterback Jayden Daniels work some of his magic before benching him to protect him from a playoff-preventing injury. Washington’s rookie is a sight to behold, running or passing the ball, and seeing him on the field will make the ticket price well worth it. The Cowboys will want to go home with a win, but the Commanders are best equipped, emotionally and physically, to win the regular season’s final game.

Commanders 24, Cowboys 14

Kevin Sherrington

The fact that the most intriguing aspect of the Cowboys’ final game is whether Trey Lance will play tells you all you need to know about this season. No one should care about a third-string QB. We shouldn’t even know who he is. But here we are. Dan Quinn will beat the Cowboys and Jerry Jones will say nice things about his former defensive coordinator and soon we’ll get to the real business of the next head coach. The most disappointing Cowboys season of this century is about to be a wrap, and it can’t come soon enough.

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Commanders 27, Cowboys 20

Calvin Watkins

The season is finally over and the next two weeks will show us what the future holds for the Cowboys. Before we get to that point, Dallas and Washington will play a wild game. We say this because that’s just something we want to see in the regular season finale. Washington is moving on to the postseason and Dallas is moving toward the draft and making decisions on the coaches. As for the game, we’ll take the visiting team.

Commanders 31, Cowboys 27

    Cowboys won’t reveal starting QB vs. Commanders until Sunday, says Jerry Jones
    Arlington PD to enhance security for Cotton Bowl, Cowboys game after New Orleans attack

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.



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Huskies Upset Maryland for 1st B1G Victory

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Huskies Upset Maryland for 1st B1G Victory


Tonight was technically UW’s 3rd conference game in the Big Ten but you’ll be forgiven if it didn’t feel like it after playing only the traditional L.A schools in December. It was the start of a brutal stretch for the Huskies in conference play with the Dawgs taking on a Maryland team that entered 10th nationally in points for and points against per game. But the Huskies stymied Maryland’s 5-star freshman center and pulled away in the 2nd half behind Great Osobor and Zoom Diallo for a 75-69 win and their first ever in a Big Ten conference game. The victory moves the Huskies to 10-4 (1-2) on the season and drops Maryland to 11-3 (1-2).

The Huskies got on the board first as Wilhelm Breidenbach was left open at the three-point line and knocked down the shot from deep. Washington seemed hesitant to attack Maryland’s twin towers lineup inside and were generally content to shoot it from deep. Mekhi Mason missed a trio of 3’s in the first 70 seconds of the game though and Maryland went to the first media timeout up 6-5.

Both teams seemed evenly matched for much of the first half as no team led by more than 3 points until a pair of Julian Reese free throws put the Terps up 25-21 with 5:27 left until the break. The Huskies tied the game back up at 25 but Maryland went on an 8-0 run and led 33-25 with 1:51 remaining in the half.

Washington could have easily shied away at that point but finished strong. Great Osobor made a pair of baskets assisted by freshman Zoom Diallo and then Diallo was fouled with 1.8 seconds remaining and split a pair at the line to make it 33-30 at halftime.

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Things got a little chippy after the break. Those Diallo free throws in the final seconds were UW’s only of the first half while Maryland was just 5/5. There were many more to come as fouls largely dictated the rest of the game.

Maryland came out strong and got off to a 41-32 lead early but Great Osobor answered with a bucket (again assisted by Diallo) to stop the run and then split a pair of free throws. DJ Davis went on a personal 5-0 run to bring the Huskies within a single point and Zoom Diallo knocked down a pair of free throws to give UW their first lead of the 2nd half at 45-44.

With Wilhelm Breidenbach in severe foul trouble, seldom-used center KC Ibekwe got into the game at center and went 2/4 at the free throw line on the same possession after UW rebounded the first miss. Ibekwe is…not known for his free throw shooting and both makes bounced off multiple surfaces before going in the hoop. Nonetheless, it gave UW a 47-46 lead.

UW continued to search for answers with both Breidenbach and Ibekwe saddled with fouls. Luis Kortright saw expanded playing time in the 2nd half and repeatedly muscled Maryland’s guards under the basket for layups. He also ended up guarding 6’10 star freshman Derek Queen for extended stretches. Being unable to push around such a smaller player seemingly bothered Queen who had his worst game in college with just 4 points and 1 rebound despite often having major size advantages. He came in averaging 17 points and 9 rebounds per game.

The fouls continued as Breidenbach fouled out shortly after re-entering with 4 (on a dubious call) but so too did Maryland’s starting point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie. DJ Davis made a pair at the free throw line to put the Dawgs up 59-58 and take the lead for good.

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With 1:31 remaining Maryland was able to get an alley-oop slam off an inbounds pass which cut UW’s lead to just 2 points but Great Osobor answered with an and-1 layup (off an assist from, you guessed it, Zoom Diallo) to stretch it back out to 5. Maryland pressed all game and it caused some late problems as UW had to take a timeout to avoid a 5-second call and threw it away in the final 30 seconds. But the Huskies were able to get the ball to DJ Davis just enough to make the free throws to keep it from ever seriously getting in doubt in the closing seconds.

The margin of victory may not reflect it but this was clearly the best win of the season for Washington. Maryland was ranked 24th in the coaches poll and was 17th at KenPom coming into the contest. Prior to this, UW’s best win was over KenPom’s #73 ranked team in Washington State. Despite students still being on break, the crowd filtered in eventually and Hec Ed got truly loud over the final 10 minutes of game clock once it was clear that Washington had a real shot to pull off the upset.

Washington won the game despite shooting just 5/24 on three-point attempts in part because Maryland was just 2/11. The Terrapins had come into the game with 2 starting guards shooting over 42% from deep on the season.

Great Osobor struggled with turnovers (6) and had several throw aways but generally played good defense against Maryland’s two all-conference caliber centers while putting up 20 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. He made a 3-point shot for the 2nd straight game and had one of his most efficient games from the field. Zoom Diallo didn’t start and had a few freshman moments but was incredible leading the show for most of the night with 18 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. DJ Davis finished with an incredible stat line of 17 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 turnovers.

The Huskies are back on the court on Sunday against a ranked Illinois team that evaporated Oregon in Eugene 109-77 (haha).

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